So...the camera can take pictures of light moving in real time. But cameras create images using, err, light. The camera can't see light while it's happening, it can only see light that's already happened.

Or something. But there's some bootstrappery going on here and I don't like it.

So...the camera can take pictures of light moving in real time. But cameras create images using, err, light. The camera can't see light while it's happening, it can only see light that's already happened.

Or something. But there's some bootstrappery going on here and I don't like it.

Click to expand...

It's a simulation, same as last time.

Disclaimer: oneI only read the headline and first sentence of the article

So...the camera can take pictures of light moving in real time. But cameras create images using, err, light. The camera can't see light while it's happening, it can only see light that's already happened.

Or something. But there's some bootstrappery going on here and I don't like it.

Click to expand...

If you turn on a torch in a foggy room, this camera would be able to see the beam of light sprouting from the torch, like a star wars lightsaber

If you turn on a torch in a foggy room, this camera would be able to see the beam of light sprouting from the torch, like a star wars lightsaber

Click to expand...

So it doesn't actually capture images of photons in flight, which would seem to be impossible. Rather that it's quick enough to actually show the torch switching on? I'm not sure if that's what you're getting at.

So it doesn't actually capture images of photons in flight, which would seem to be impossible. Rather that it's quick enough to actually show the torch switching on? I'm not sure if that's what you're getting at.

Click to expand...

Seeing photons in flight, in the same way you'd see bullets in flight, is impossible because "seeing" really means to detect photons, and given that photons do not interact with one another, the only way to detect them is if they interact with a detector, such as your eye. In a sense photons are invisible, but if one smacks into you head on, you feel its presence.

Crispy's torch would produce a stream of photons, roughly going in the same direction, which if it were aimed perpendicular to your line of sight would be invisible. However they would bounce off the molecules of water in the fog, with some being deflected with an angle that sends them flying off into your eye, or a camera. With a fast enough camera, this scattering of the photons would occur slowly enough that the end result would look a light sabre powering up.